The Economy of Tea

Everyone knows that in Europe, tea is something English (or British if you prefer), that they invented everything regarding tea rituals and that they are at the core of everything related to tea. Well, I won’t tell you that everything in this common belief is …

From The First Tea War: a History The following extract is a transcription in modern English of the unpublished memories of Zhèng Hai Dong, a Chinese scholar that finished his apprenticeship at the beginning of the First Tea War. I opened the door silently not …

No, don’t look at me but look at him below. I am sure you are now really scared and ready to tell me everything and anything but don’t worry. I won’t ask too many things. My topic today is more about clichés, “projections” or things …

We all know about Robert Fortune and the British East India Company (for a really small summary, you can look there) in the spreading of tea from China to India (I will not go on the topic about the different Camellia sinensis varieties and their …

Sometimes I tend to ask myself some strange questions (strange for most people, not for me). One of them goes around the question of price (see there and there). I am most intrigued by how prices are made. Sure every price depends on how much …

I am sure this title puzzles you and furthermore, I can also say that there is a problem going on in the tea world or I could say that there is a big one. You can relax since the first rule of dumb if you …

I often hear or read that tea people are a bit snobbish, asking for loose leaf teas, for specific blends, for specific water quality or temperature. But what do people mean by that? And is it true? According to the dictionary, snob is : 1. …

I was reading a sci-fi book (not linked to the title of this post as it would be too obvious and by know I think you know me) set in a very far-away future where mankind is no more and what remains are a full …

After a small hiatus, I am back and I must confess something: I am a consumer and a modern one, which means I want everything, that I want it all and I want it now. No don’t bother to send me over to any video …

I have what I would call a professional bias: when I read about prices from old times, I think about how much it would be today. You might not know it but for different reasons, prices are changing over time meaning that you can buy …